Prognosis: Large Social Networks May Help Surgical Patients

By NICHOLAS BAKALAR
Having a large network of friends and family, a new study suggests, may help surgical patients experience less anxiety and pain before their operations and a quicker recovery afterward.
Researchers studied 605 people scheduled for chest or abdominal operations. They estimated their social connectedness by determining how many close friends and relatives each had, and how often they attended social functions. Using well-validated scales, the patients rated their levels of pain and anxiety before and after their operations.
The one-fifth of patients with the smallest social networks reported almost twice as much postoperative pain intensity as the one-fifth with the largest. Smaller social networks were also associated with longer hospital stays.
The authors, writing in the February issue of The Journal of the American College of Surgeons, say it is not clear from their data whether poor social connectedness is a cause or a result of increased postoperative pain. But when they adjusted for preoperative pain level, the effect of social connectedness on postoperative pain disappeared. This suggests a strong association between social network size and preoperative pain levels, which may be the reason for the easier postoperative recovery.
“The average physician, when he takes a social history, asks about smoking and drugs and not the real social situation of the patient,” said Dr. Daniel B. Hinshaw, the senior author and a professor of surgery at the University of Michigan. “And yet it looks like this is a real marker for problems.”